Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), an investment banking and asset management services provider, has achieved a year-to-date return of 11.49 per cent.

The fund, which is owned by the six GCC governments, has recorded a growth of 80.14 per cent since its launch in April 2003.

GIC's Gulf Islamic fund, launched at the beginning of the year, achieved growth of 34.3 per cent.

This fund was launched in January in line with GIC's strategy to establish Shariah-compliant funds that take into consideration the level of each sector and country in addition to the conventional funds.

It seeks to achieve a higher return on the capital by investment in the shares of GCC companies whose operations are Sharia-compliant.

GIC's head of GCC equities division Talal Al Tawari said that the GCC economies were the most stable despite the deep global financial crisis.

Head of business development Malek Essa Al Ajeel attributed their outstanding success to a number of factors, including its reliance on specialised analyses and studies of the individual companies in order to forecast their expected performance.

"Extensive research is undertaken on an on-going basis with a view to identify the best investment opportunities in terms of sector and geography," he said.

"The company is guided by the results of its research efforts in support of the investment policies as applied to GIC's funds, keeping abreast with the progress of its strategy toward achieving its goals."

GCC markets provide high financial returns with minimal risks, he said, as witnessed by analytical studies of the implications of the global financial crisis.

He said that GIC recommends investment in those GCC share funds that enjoy professional management, strong risk management and good performance, in addition to the diversification feature in terms of sector and country, as well as selecting the shares that have good current and prospective underlying operational performance. – TradeArabia News Service